England Postpone Team Reveal for Latest Twenty20 Fixture as Conditions Force Indoor Practice
England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.
The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order
Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”
Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”
Mixed Results in the Tour
The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.
Thoughts on Return and Development
This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”
Backing from Coaching Staff
Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”
Shift in Location and Team Selection
After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.
Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches
On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.
